Semiconductors are materials that present properties of both conductance and insulation. Typically, a semiconductor material has four valence electrons allowing the material and consequently the semiconductor material to operate as both a conductor and as an insulator as an operator desires. One example of a known semiconductor device is a transistor.
When manufacturing semiconductor devices great care is taken to ensure the semiconductor device has been manufactured properly. As a result, there is a desire to test active semiconductor devices to ensure proper operation. Typically, a probe assembly is utilized to test a semiconductor device by generating an excitation waveform of the semiconductor to ensure proper operation.
The excitation waveforms are high frequency waveforms that cause difficulties in acquiring representations of the waveform using a probe assembly. Adding to this problem is that often the probe assembly must be used to test a semiconductor such as a transistor that is on board, or part of an integrated circuit (IC) that includes other electronic components, giving rise to spatial constraints.